Anti-spending Texas House Republicans are more generous with staff bonuses

Six anti-spending House Republicans from the Greater Houston area handed their congressional staffs generous bonuses — some exceeding $4,000 — at the end of 2010 when the GOP was pressing for steep cuts in federal spending.

The Republicans’ payouts contrasted with Houston’s three House Democrats who said they did not provide holiday-season bonuses because they preferred providing consistent monthly paychecks or had rejected bonuses because of the nation’s economic ills.

Payroll data compiled by LegiStorm, an independent organization that tracks congressional finances, showed the six Republicans paid an average salary of $55,713 in 2010 and added in an average bonus of $3,097 to boost the total average salary to $58,810.

Democrats paid an average salary of $54,375 with no bonus, leaving the average Democratic staffer earning $4,435 less than a colleague on the GOP staff.

End-of-year bonuses are routine on Capitol Hill— provided by 77 percent of House members who responded to a survey for the 2010 House Compensation Study compiled by the Chief Administrative Office of the House. The average bonus? $3,248.

Bonuses “might be a reasonable way to show appreciation” for low-paid staffers’ dedication and hard work on Capitol Hill, said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University.

But large bonuses are “a hard sell,” said the author of The American Dream: The Politics of Opportunity and Exclusion in American History.“In times like these with unemployment at 9 percent and underemployment much higher than that, these numbers suggest a sense of entitlement that is truly breathtaking. Did anyone think of returning money not needed for regular salary to the Treasury?”

House members earn $174,000 a year. They pay for up to 18 full-time and part-time staffers’ salaries and bonuses from a $1.5 million a- year Members’ Representational Allowance that covers payroll, office rent, travel, mail and communications expenses. Some veteran staffers earn more than $100,000 a year.

Bonus bump

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, led the Houston-area delegation during the bonus season by bumping the average staffer’s annual salary by 7.7 percent, or $3,610.

Poe took the action at the same time he was promising constituents that he would “continue to work to return more of your tax dollars back to you and your family and ensure that the tax dollars you send to Washington are spent wisely and carefully.”

Poe told the Houston Chronicle that he carefully considered each part of his congressional budget and had been “under budget every year that I have been in Congress.”

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, provided an average bonus of 7.3 percent, according to LegiStorm. The veteran Gulf Coast lawmaker paid the highest average bonus within the delegation of $4,526. But Paul’s payment represented a smaller percentage of his average staff salary of $62,388.

“Congressman Paul has no comment,” said spokeswoman Rachel Mills.

Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose bonuses bumped the average staffer’s salary by 7.1 percent, or $3,385, “places a high premium on the responsible allocation of the taxpayers’ dollars,” explained spokeswoman Melissa Kelly. Olson cut office spending by 5 percent and returned roughly $213,000 to the U.S. Treasury last year, Kelly said.

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, a former Chamber of Commerce executive, said his business background and faith in “pay for performance” led him to pay an average bonus of 6.6 percent, or $3,451. Brady said he routinely saves about 20 percent of his office budget and returns the savings to the Treasury.

The former federal prosecutor “places a high value on hiring and retaining qualified and competent staff” as he “continues to look for ways to operate more efficiently to save taxpayer dollars,” spokesman Mike Rosen said.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, with the highest average staff salary of $68,056, hiked staffers’ salaries with an average bonus of 2.8 percent.

“The congressman and his office are disciplined (and) good stewards of our precious tax dollars,” said spokeswoman Megan Mitchell. The congressman returned more than $185,000 in saved office expenses to the U.S. Treasury last year.

For their part, Democrats said they had shunned bonuses.

“We don’t give bonuses in my office,” said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, a career state and federal legislator elected to the House in 1992. “I just feel if somebody is worth their pay, they should get their regular pay in each paycheck rather than a bump at the end of the year.”

Aides to Reps. Al Green, D-Houston, and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said the lawmakers also have not provided bonuses to staffers.